Reviews

Gert Leptin and Manfred Melzer, Economic Reforms in East German Industry, London, OUP, 1978, xxv + 200 pp. £12.00.

Jiri Kosta, Abriss der sozialökonomischen Entwicklung der Tschechoslowakei 1945–1977 (An Outline of the Socio‐Economic Development of Czechoslovakia 1945–1977), Edition Suhrkamp No. 974, Suhrkamp Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1978, 217 pp.

Vladimir V. Kusin, From Dub?ek to Charter 77: A study of ‘normalisation’ in Czechoslovakia 1968–1978. Edinburgh: Q Press, 1978. x + 353 pp. £8.50.

Leon Boim and Glenn G. Morgan (ed. & trans.), The Soviet Procuracy Protests: 1937–1973; A Collection of Translations. Alphen aan den Rijn: Sijthoff & Noordhoff, 1978. xvi + 603 pp. Dfl. 190.00/$88.50.

Gordon B. Smith, The Soviet Procuracy and the Supervision of Administration. Alphen aan den Rijn: Sijthoff and Noordhoff, 1978. xii + 154 pp. Dfl. 55.00/$25.50.

Peter Kenez, Civil War in South Russia, 1919–1920: The Defeat of the Whites. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1977. $17.50; £12.25.

Kendall E. Bailes, Technology and Society under Lenin and Stalin: Origins of the Soviet Technical Intelligentsia, 1917–1941. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton U.P., 1978. xiii + 472 pp. £20.10.

Delia W. Sheldon (ed.), Dimensions of Détente, New York: Praeger Publishers, 1978, 221 pp.

George Ginsburgs and Alvin Z. Rubinstein (eds.), Soviet Foreign Policy Toward Western Europe, New York: Praeger Publishers, 1978, 295 pp.

Malcolm Lader, Psychiatry on Trial, Penguin Books Ltd., 1977. 201 pp. 80p.

George F. Putnam, Russian Alternatives to Marxism: Christian Socialism and Idealistic Liberalism in Twentieth‐Century Russia. Knoxville: University of Tennessee, 1977. xii + 233 pp. $13.50.

A. Nekrich, Otreshis’ ot strakha. Overseas Publication Interchange Ltd., London, 1979. 414 pp.

Aron Katsenelinboigen, Studies in Soviet Economic Planning. New York: M. E. Sharpe, 1978. xiii + 229 pp. $22.50.

Walter D. Connor & Zvi Y. Gitelman (eds.), Public Opinion in European Socialist Systems. New York & London: Praeger Special Studies, 1977. ix + 196 pp.

Mervyn Matthews, Privilege in the Soviet Union: A Study of Elite Life‐Styles under Communism. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1978. 193 pp. £6.95.

Barbara Evans Clements, Bolshevik Feminist. The Life of Aleksandra Kollontai. Bloomington and London: Indiana University Press, 1979. 352 pp. $15.00.     

In the eye of the beholder: Meaning and structure of informal status in women's and men's prisons*

Applying an abductive mixed‐methods approach, we investigate the informal status systems in three women's prison units (across two prisons) and one men's prison unit. Qualitative analyses suggest “old head” narratives—where age, time in prison, sociability, and prison wisdom confer unit status—are prevalent across all four contexts. Perceptions of maternal “caregivers” and manipulative “bullies,” however, are found only in the three women's units. The qualitative findings inform formal network analyses by differentiating “positive,” “neutral,” and “negative” status nominations, with “negative” ties primarily absent from the men's unit. Within the women's units, network analyses find that high‐status women are likely to receive both positive and negative peer nominations, such that evaluations depend on who is doing the evaluating. Comparing the women's and men's networks, the correlates of positive and neutral ties are generally the same and center on covariates of age, getting along with others, race, and religion. Overall, the study points to important similarities and differences in status across the gendered prison contexts, while demonstrating how a sequential mixed‐methods design can illuminate both the meaning and the structure of prison informal organization.     

The “Tough on Crime” Competition: a Network Approach to Understanding the Social Mechanisms Leading to Federal Crime Control Legislation in the United States from 1973–2014

The increase in punitive sentiment in America over the last four decades is frequently attributed to changes in criminal justice policies and programs. While scholars have studied the impact of legislation and policy on justice system outcomes, less attention has focused on the role of political actors in legislative bodies who are largely responsible for enacting criminal justice legislation. The current study addresses this gap by examining the social organization of federal crime control policy in the U.S. Congress over a forty-two year period (1973–2014). Drawing from research on social network mechanisms, we examine whether crime control legislation was more politically attractive relative to other legislative topics, and whether Democrats and Republicans pursue these policies by working together or competing against each other. Our results provide novel insight into the mechanisms that contributed to the punitive movement at the federal level.     

By ground or by air? Voter mobilization during the United States’ 2008 presidential campaign

Aggregate studies find no effect of campaign advertising on voter turnout in the United States, thereby calling into question experimental and survey-based studies that produce strong turnout effects. In revisiting the debate over the impact of campaign ads, this paper examines the effects of both TV campaign advertising and campaign field offices on aggregate voter turnout during the 2008 US presidential election campaign. In contrast to previous studies, our analysis finds that both campaign field offices and campaign advertising help to stimulate turnout, although the effect of campaign field offices is more robust to alternative model specifications. We also find that only Obama's field offices had any discernible impact on aggregate voter turnout, thereby reinforcing the narrative that the Obama campaign had a superior ground game in 2008.     

The 22 July Terrorist Attacks in Norway: Impact on Public Attitudes towards Counterterrorist Authorities

Did the terrorist attacks in Norway affect citizens’ attitudes to security‐related institutions and policies? To answer this question this study pools two cross‐sectional surveys, collected shortly before and after the 2011 terrorist attacks, to determine the attacks’ effects on people's attitudes. One important finding is that general support for the institutions responsible for security increased slightly, whereas specific support for government agencies capability to prevent and cope with crises decreased markedly. A second important finding concerns the potential for politicisation of crises: On issues of security, the distance between right‐wing voters and other party voters increased after the attack. Irrespective of party attachment, Norwegians have become less satisfied with governmental policies on security‐related issues, but dissatisfaction has increased significantly more among right‐wing than among left‐wing voters. Thus, even in a country where politicians responded to the crisis with an appeal to togetherness and common values, citizens’ attitudes on security policies were politicised.     

What Happens at the Polling Place: Using Administrative Data to Look Inside Elections

Tremendous attention has been paid to local election administration since the 2000 presidential election meltdown, yet policy makers still lack basic information about what happens at the polling place. One strategy to understand the interactions between citizens and street‐level election bureaucrats is to turn to administrative data. Using logs collected by polling place workers, the authors analyze more than 66,000 individual incidents recorded from four different statewide elections. Such data provide novel insights and guidance for the administration of elections. Findings indicate that task scale (in terms of the number of ballots) and complexity (in terms of absentee ballots) increase the incident rate. Managerial choices about how polling places are run also matter: the use of electronic voting machines and central count processing of ballots reduce the incident rate, while splitting poll worker shifts increases it. Operator capacity, measured in terms of experience, also reduces the number of incidents.     

The Stress Response and Adolescents’ Adjustment: The Impact of Child Maltreatment

Experience with and management of stress has implications for adolescents' behavioral and socioemotional development. This study examined the relationship between adolescents' physiological response to an acute laboratory stressor (i.e., Trier Social Stress Test; TSST) and anger regulation and interpersonal competence in a sample of 175 low-income urban adolescents (51.8% girls). Findings suggested that heightened reactivity as indicated by cortisol, heart rate, and blood pressure was associated with increased interpersonal competence and anger regulation. However, these findings were context dependent such that, for youth high in self-reported child maltreatment, heightened reactivity was associated with decreased interpersonal competence and anger regulation. Results highlight the importance of considering how context may condition the effect of stress reactivity on functioning during adolescence.